Make a Feast of Us
by FaceHoofStoriesINC
Summary: The infected fail to injure Ellie and Riley on that fateful day in the mall. Nonetheless, the girls' lives will inevitably be thrown off coarse when Boston falls deeper into its state of belligerence. Rated T for coarse language and pretty extreme violence.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to a story about The Last of Us I don't have any claims to Naughdog's beautiful work. Enjoy!**

"8, 9, 10, really or not, here I come!" I shout, turning and raising my Super Soaker. "You're goin' down Riles." Completely aware that I'm only talking to myself, I taunt the environment I stalk through the mall, I scan every store for signs of movement. I haven't yet found all of Riley's favorite hiding spots, but I intend to. I suddenly stop and kneel. A rack of clothes sways idly in the Hot Topic to my left. I grin and tip toe toward the entrance.

"Hey Riley." I throw my voice into the dark store. "Wanna give up now?" There's no response. "Suit yourself." I fire a stream of cold water across back of the store.

A high-pitched yelp reveals Riley's position in one of the corners. I laugh and charge into the store. I find Riley huddled under hanging sweatshirts, using a sleeve to wipe water from her face.

"Crap!" She shouts, realizing my presence. She grabs her water gun and struggles to run to the other side. I follow close behind, skillfully avoiding her blind fire.

Riley suddenly trips ands falls into a roll. Before she can recover, I kick her gun away and pin her down with a foot on her stomach and my gun pointed at her face. "Any last words?" I joke.

"Yeah." Riley said dramatically. "You smell."

I scoff and unload a pump of water into her face. I then prepare to fire again. "Ok, I'm dead, I'm dead." Riley cries.

"I know." I say coolly. "This is just out of spite."

"C'mon Ellie." Riley says as I fire another stream. "This is never gonna dry."

"Ok, ok." I say, finally relenting. "That makes it 5-3 in my favor." I help Riley up and hand her the gun that I'd kicked away before starting to walk out. As I make my way back into the mall, I'm unexpectedly hit in the back side by a line of water. "Gah!" I say uncomfortably. "Ok I deserved that." I say, trying to reposition my wet pants.

"Damn right you did." Riley says, shooting at my face for emphasis.

"Hey cut it out!" I say, returning fire.

"So much for getting dry." Riley says ceasing her assault.

"Here." I take a black t-shirt from its folded position on a display table and toss it to her. I then grab another and begin to wipe myself down. "You go first this time. No funny stuff."

Riley chuckles and walks out of the store with her soaker resting on her shoulder. I throw the shirt back onto its shelf and join Riley in the mall. "Let's go to the car."

We start walking toward the center of the mall, shoving each other playfully. Despite my victories in our games, Riley is dominant to me and most ways. She's stronger and smarter, but the games I create require speed and stealth which I possess.

Clash, for instance, is game Riley and I invented together. The objective is for one player to find the other and shoot first; it's simple, really. The only difference between out game and tag or hide and seek is that in clash, the hider can fight back. Or in my case, they can run away really fast and hide in some some cranny until the seeker comes around the corner.

Competition is the sticky crap that holds our friendship together. We know each other's strengths and weaknesses as well as we know our own. Weather it's race or arm wrestling or a game of clash, we're always testing each other and determining who's dominant.

The mall is our playground and has been since we found our way in last summer. Getting in wasn't hard, of course; Riley threw a rock at the the sliding glass doors. The problem was getting out. The community is pretty strict about curfews and all that. On some days, like today, we can slip out of our apartment in downtown Boston.

There isn't exactly a lot of exploring to be done, at least not on a large scale. Our original plan was to run away as pathetic as that sounds. We got about a mile and a half out and found the mall. It started as a pit stop, but we ended up staying all day and night. The next morning, we hauled ass back to the city and got a verbal bearing from out surrogate guardian, Marlene.

The next time, we were smarter, and to be frank, we learned a new lesson every time we came out here. Eventually that lead to a beautiful red sports car they had parked inside the mall. It was a great place to just sit and think; we liked to think about how they got the car inside twenty years ago back when the mall was bustling with shoppers.

We turn a corner to the large area in which the vehicle is supposed to be situated. "Where's the car?" Riley said, stopping in her tracks.

"How am I supposed to know?" I say, suspending one eye brow. I slowly walk forward with my soaker raised, defensively.

"Ellie." I turn to see Riley cocking a pistol. "Let me go first."

"Come on Riley." I say smirking. "It can't be anything that serious.

Riley doesn't look persuaded. She marches ahead of me, looking cautiously looking around her. I only follow timidly. She suddenly stops, glaring into a nearby store.

"What's wrong?" I ask, my voice shaking slightly. I'm always discomforted by her alertness.

"I found the car." She says plainly. She crosses the mall and enters a large store with a name I can't read. I track behind her to find the cherry red sports car sitting peacefully in middle of the store.

"H-how is this possible?" I stutter, walking to the trunk and wiping dust of the silver letters that read "Camaro".

"I don't know." Riley says, dragging her fingers across spoiler. "But I'd rather not think about."

"B-but what if it was something dangerous." I say in a frightened tone. "It could be someone that wants to hurt us."

"I'm almost certain it was." Riley says, somberly. "But I'm not gonna let that interrupt my quality time in the front seat of this car."

I can't help but smile at her as she walks around the left side of the car and climbs into the previously shattered window.

I walk to the right side window and swing my legs in before sliding into the leather seat. "This brings back memories, eh?" I say leaning back in the seat.

"Yeah." Riley throws her feet up on the dashboard. "Good times."

Suddenly, a loud echoing groan is heard from somewhere in the mall. We both jump and glare at each other in response.

"What do we do?" I whisper sharply.

"Stay low and shut up." Riley says sinking into the seat. I copy her motion and try to control my trembling as the distant moans grow louder.


	2. Chapter 2

The last FPS 2

In every excursion Riley and I had taken to this mall, the most dangerous thing we've come across was a herd of deer parading through JC Penny's. Now we both no we're in serious trouble, and it's clear from our heavy breathing and accelerated heart beat.

"Riley!" I whisper, looking over slowly.

"I told you to be quiet." Riley scorns. "They'll go away."

"They'll smell us, Riley." I say, grabbing her forearm. "What happens when they smell us?"

Riley looks thoughtful. That is until the sounds of human speech join the infected slur. They're real humans, live ones. "Find cover!" A man shouts. "Take them out one by one, and conserve ammo."

"People?" I say quietly. "Where did the-"

Riley slams her hand over my mouth, staring blankly at the mirror suspended from the ceiling. I look at the mirror on the right side, and see a group of three mean and a woman diapering from the center of the huge hall. Luckily, my scream is suppressed by Riley's hand.

The groans and screams of the infected are heard once again. One of the survivors runs into the our store; Riley and I throw our heads down below the windows, and the man runs right past us, crouching behind the hood.

An infected runner charges into the store. I catch a glimpse of the inhuman organism. It takes the form of a girl and her mid twenties. She was thin and blonde; she would've been stunning before the gash on her left shoulder blade became a green house for the fungus-based infection.

The survivor stealthily creeps around the driver side of the car as the runner angrily searched the store on my side. Another living man slid into the store and began to follow the runner, staying against the wall. Eventually the second survivor managed to gets close enough to tackle the her.

As the man dives forward with a shiv in hand, the runner turns and deflects the attack. The man falls on the ground, and the runner is quick to jump on top of him.

"Mark!" The other man rises from his hiding place and slides across the hood of the car. The runner looks up from its agonized feast in time to see the first mans leg swing toward her face. She grunts and falls back before taking a bullet to the head and falling limp.

"Graham." The man called mark groans weakly from under his friend.

"Dear God." Graham kneels down and holds the injured scavenger's hand. "I'm gonna get you outta here, Mark."

"No, you have to leave me." Mark says, gargling blood. The red substance has coated the side of his face and is puddling around him as it leaks profusely from a wound on his collar bone.

"I can't." Graham says, seemingly holding back tears. "I can't do that."

"Open your eyes, Graham." Mark shouts angrily. "I'm done for.. Get out of here. Take care of the crew."

A woman runs in and slides to a stop at her downed partner's side.

"Help me lift him." Graham says beginning to hold the older man.

"What are you, insane?!" The woman says, standing. "We have to go before those fuckers come back."

"Ellie, let's go!" Riley whispers to me as she begans to climb out of her window.

"Wait, I-"

"Jen, We can't leave him here to turn." Graham says desperately.

"Ellie, come on." Before I can refute again.

"And we're not bringing him along to turn either." The woman argues. "It's too late for him."

"Please." Mark says softly as I crawl out of the car on Riley's side. We crouch and head to the entrance of our store. The main hall is desolate as the group of survivors had dispersed with the infected in persuit.

As we run in the direction we came, Graham and Jen's shouting voices echo through the building. "We have to bring him!" Graham yells.

Suddenly, the familiar cries of the agonized infected return at full volume. As Riley and I sprint fearfully, the demonic creatures run directly into our path from a large store on the left and block our exit. We skid to a stop and turn to flee the runners.

As we run back, the survivors accumulate in the hall and, one by one, notice the parade running toward. They immediately raise their pistols and begin to fire toward us. Riley and I attempt to shield our faces but do not stop running in fear of the screams behind us.

Suddenly Riley pulls me to the side, and we presume racing through a department store. "Hey!" One of the survivors yells. "Come back!" We do not turn to satisfy our curiousity, but keep running as bullets and shouts ring behind us.

Finally we reach a small back room. A door which reads exit above it is emplanted in the back wall. Riley slams her body into it with a loud grunt. I turn fearfully, flipping out my prized switch blade as she repeats the process several times. Finally, light floods the room, and she abruptly pulls me outside.

"Where are we going?" I ask, continuing to run by Riley's side.

"Back to the city." She says. "Ugh, Marlene's gonna kill us." She adds under her breath.

"That's if we don't die first." I say, chuckling softly.

"Just keep running." Riley says, pulling ahead.

 **Thank you for having read this far. If you've made it to this point, I'd assume you want more, and trust me when I say there will be more. This story's actually getting a lot more attention then I expected it to which is amazing. However, I'm putting it on the sidelines to a few other projects. Worry not apocalypse enthusiasts. One of the other two in-profess stories is another The Last of Us fic that follows Joel and Ellie after the events of the game. It is built to be a canon sequel to the game which is pretty cool, I think. (If anyone out there is with Naughtydog, I'm winking at you) Anyway, the other story is about ponies, so if you're into that stuff feel free to check it out. Both will be receiving hopefully consistent updates until they're complete at which point I'll get back to this story. Thanks again and enjoy the reads!**


	3. Chapter 3

Riley stands hunched over, grabbing oxygen from the air and pulling it into her body in a desperate attempt to refuel her depleted system. Her black hair hangs over her face which radiates shock and fear.

I watch her, my breathing only a little less panicked. As I hold my hands behind my head, opening my lungs, I grin slightly. She catches the smirk and shoots me a glare. At that, I begin to laugh.

"Where's the joke?" Riley says, standing up straight and staring me down.

"There isn't one." I reply, trying to conduct myself. As I try to come up with an excuse for my sudden outburst of giggles, I realize there truly is no logical reason. Riley sees this and curls her own lips.

"It is ridiculous, isn't it?" She says, turning and looking out the window we'd just climbed into. "Infected and outsiders in one day. How's that for adventure, huh?"

"I think we've had enough to last us a few months." I say, sitting on the bunk bed we've shared since childhood."

"No, no, no." Riley objects. "I'd say that was just enough to fill in the time I've been gone."

"Riley, I don't want you to feel like you have to make up for that." I say, shaking my head and watching the floor.

"Oh, I didn't say I owed you anything." Riley says, leaning against the window frame. "I just gave you a little extra. You're welcome."

"Seriously, though, that was fucking intense." I say, trying to keep the conversion on my concerns. "Are we gonna talk about the fact that there were a butt load of infected right outside the city.

For a mere moment, Riley screws up her face in concentration. However, the thought seems to seep from her mind soon enough. "I've already told you the military is hiding shit." She sad solemnly. "Not all the infected are dead. This entire 'quarantine' is an illusion."

"Right." I say, rubbing my arm. "Because the military is evil."

"Ellie, I don't think you understand the legitimacy here." Riley says.

"Shit, I know." I say apologetically. "It's just.. I'm thinking about us Riles. A soldier and a terrorist? The ultimate forbidden love?" I hold me arms out form an answer.

"Sucks, huh?" Riley's says, strugging off the ordeal.

I sigh and lay back on the bed. "What are we gonna do?"

Suddenly the door flings open, hitting a desk with a thud. The intruder quickly turns and shuts the door lightly. "Hope no one heard that." She says softly.

Even in my state of shock, I recognize the voice traveling through the dark room. "Marlene?!" I say sharply. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

"I came to figure out why she was here." Marlene says, pointing an angry fingers at Riley. "I gave you specific instructions not to come back here; do you realize how much trouble you get in?"

"How did you know I was here?" Riley asks, her voice strong and defensive.

"Word got around that both infected and looters were hanging around in the mall." Marlene says, crossing her arms over her chest and taking a seat on a dresser. "The dots weren't hard to connect."

"That wasn't us." Riley says firmly. "Well.. Technically."

"Elaborate." Marlene demands.

"There were outsiders." I step in. "A little group, maybe five or six. I think they came from somewhere else-"

"There is nowhere else." Marlene interrupts. "Chicago was the last stable quarantine zone, and it collapsed more than five years ago."

"Well there must be something out there." Riley says. "Isn't this exactly what we're fighting for."

"Our government isn't perfect." Marlene says matter-of-fairly. "But overthrowing and destroying it are two entirely different things. If the infected don't piss off, and these _outsiders_ keep coming, none of us will stand a chance. Soldiers, fireflies, we'll all be dead."

Riley and I watch her, stunned by her analysis of the situation. I knew Riley had been taking it lightly, but I never would've jumped to Marlene's cataclysmic conclusion. "S-so what now?" I said shakily.

"Well." Marlene puts one ankle over the other and leans back pensively. "I've saved your asses more than once, but clearly, I'm unable to protect you any longer."

"What are you talking about?!" Riley says, taking offense to the comment.

"You're undisciplined and irresponsible." Marlene says, pointing at the dark girl. "And she listens to you. When I said you weren't allowed to see her, I meant it. And this is exactly why."

"Well now what are we supposed to do?" Riley says, beginning to slowly pace the room.

"You can't stay here." Marlene says softly.

"Inside the military school?" I say. "I agree."

"In Boston." Marlene clarifies.

"Oh yeah, let's just take a bus to L.A." Riley says, sarcastically referencing the fact that the Los Angeles quarantine zone was the first to lose order. "You said there was no where else."

"Forget about that; listen to me now." Marlene says.

"That was literally, like, two minutes ago." I say skeptically.

Marlene sighs and rubs her temple with her the fingers on her right hand. "I lied."

" _What?"_ Riley and I simultaneously drag out the word, imitating shock.

"Alright listen." Marlene says, silencing us. "There are some safe houses out there, but we try to keep them underground."

"Because they're firefly safehouses." I say, sounding just as disgusted as intend to.

"Yes." Marlene confirms. "But you better not complain, Chris Kyle; these are places that'll be keeping you alive."

"Well, when do we leave?" Riley says, clapping her hands together.

"Now." Marlene says surely.

"What?" Riley and I speak together again, this time expressing genuine disbelief.

"You can't stay in this building any longer, not if the infected and outsiders become more prevalent." Marlene says, beginning to walk toward the window. "Pack your shit, and meet me by the wall." Without a glance back, she vaults the window seal and flees.


End file.
